A new study by HealthPros (a training network for health professionals) and WHO/Europe shows that countries faced challenges in how they presented and distributed COVID-19 information. COVID-19 dashboards, visual and dynamic displays of critical data, were developed rapidly in the first months of the pandemic, but countries are seeking simplicity, use of open data, transparency, and faced issues related to the need for trust.

A new publication says the COVID-19 dashboard developed at the start of the pandemic has shown how much can be achieved with limited resources and a high degree of urgency. They also stressed the importance of tracking the spread of “potentially harmful misinformation.” This publication is based on in-depth interviews with his COVID-19 Dashboard team in the 33 countries surveyed.

The urgency, heavy workload, limited human resources, data and privacy constraints, and public scrutiny were all issues we faced developing the dashboard in early 2020. It’s an important challenge that was also reported by other observers,” said the study. As one expert recalls:

The COVID-19 experience shows the need to invest wisely

Dashboards are used in many jurisdictions to display data such as COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, deaths, and geographic locations in an automatically updating format.

“What we saw in the early stages of the pandemic was a high level of political commitment, coupled with professionalism and support from the private sector to find ways to understand and track this new disease,” he said. Dr. David Novillo-Ortiz explained. WHO/Europe Data and Digital Health Regional Advisor.

Addressing existing gaps

While the experience of COVID-19 has highlighted the success of collaborations at the international level, such as WHO, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and Eurostat, this study highlights cross-country collaboration and limited gaps in cooperation have been pointed out. Cross-border data exchange.

The research team, based at the University of Amsterdam Medical Center, included researchers from HealthPros and WHO/Europe health data experts. Dashboard team members were interviewed in 11 languages ​​covering 31 of the 53 Member States of the WHO European Region and several others. Using elaborate encoding and thematic analysis, as well as a validation workshop, we have come to a conclusion.